Kid Icarus: End of Days
by Arrixam
Summary: Prometheus, the last of the Elder Gods, has tricked Pit into resurrecting Hades. Now that the Lord of the Underworld is back, his rein continues. But nothing is at it seems with Prometheus, who now works for Hades. What are his plans and can Pit bring peace once more? Project on hold
1. Mission One start!

The angel Pit rushed down the dark corridor that would lead him out of Skyworld and into the mortal world. Within the past six months there had been a few missions that Lady Palutena gave him. Most of them required him to gather new materials only found in the lower plane for the new weapons the both of them had been engineering. But there were a few that called for his specialty: fighting monster like the hero that he was. Even with Hades gone, there still lingered the aftermath of war. Monsters of the Underworld still roamed the mortal world causing destruction wherever they went. It had been up to Pit (and with the help some amazing bounty hunter, like Magnus) to play a little search and destroy.

But today was different. The urgency in Palutena's voice shook him awake. An angel is always ready for duty!, he had told himself many times before; thus, he had slept in his tunic and sandals since as long as he could remember. He should get around to washing those. With the golden daggers strapped to his belt and the glowing crests the goddess of nature, Viridi, gave him on his right arm, Captain of the Angels Pit was ready to face anything. Bring it on!

"Captain Pit reporting for duty!" he cheered himself on as the door to the outside opened. He took a great dive out. The warmth and shine radiating off of his wings was assurance that Palutena had granted him the Gift of Flight once again. He silently sighed to himself. Six months and his wings still haven't grown one bit. Sure he was more than appreciative that she would do this for him. But come on! It was getting so embarrassing that the great hero Pit, vanquisher of the High God Hades, had to—"

"Whoa!" the speed picked up like never before. He was taking a dive straight towards the surface world faster than gravity would allow. She was pushing him faster than he had ever gone, almost as fast as when he faced Hades in the Great Sacred Treasure. "Laaaaaaady Paaaaluuuuutenaaaaaaaa?" His face was flapping around from the layer of air resisting him.

"This is a huge emergency, Pit!" her voice rang in his head. "I need you on the surface as quick as we can get you."

A flash emitted from his wings. Oh no. She was making him go even faster?

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh," he screamed as tears swelled up in his eyes. If he were a human the layer of air would have torn him apart or had him burst into flames. But even if angels were much stronger than humans, it still hurt!

He understood why she had pushed him to go so fast the second he broke through the cloud barrier. His heart sank to his stomach. Everywhere he looked— EVERYWHERE he looked— was a massive ocean of monsters of the Underworld. The humans that were fighting them in an all-out warfare tactic were greatly outnumbered. Human soldiers could easily topple the grunts, sure, and there would still be a great deal of casualties in the end. However, they weren't going to stand a chance against a horde of Reapers!

It was only half a second for him to soak this all in. Palutena had other plans for him and made his wings fly north. "As you can see, there are an immense amount of Underworld monsters!"

"What in the world is going on?" Pit nearly shrieked. The moment he said those words, a variety of those monsters and mini Reapers flew to intercept his path. Palutena wasn't slowing down. He would have to just cut them down.

Even if she was guiding him, Pit could still move around in a small area to dodge enemies. It was more like he was floating inside a bubble and Lady Palutena was guiding the bubble and not him. Which was good for him. It meant he could move around on his own just as well as he could on land. Nothing was going to stop him!

"I don't know," Palutena's voice was grieved. "Lord Zeus ordered all available gods into the Underworld and that's where we're going."

'Was that why she made me grab Thanatos' key before I took off?' he questioned to himself as he hacked away everything in his way. Not a moment was wasted. Every movement of his body was a movement that killed. When he slashed, the arc was also used to draw an arrow to the bladed bow. When he shot an arrow, the release allowed him to active the power of the Viridi Palm. He had spent the past six months learning to use more than one weapon at a time. It was impossible at this point to combine an Arm and a Cannon together, but he was also a master when it came to the Bow and Palm.

"Lord Zeus?" the realization of who issued the command didn't slow his movements. Lord Zeus, king of all the gods and a guardian of all worlds, was issuing an order? The guy only got involved with things that got his attention. The whole war against Hades wasn't even enough to get his attention. Instead he was too distracted, from what Pit heard anyways, with political indifferences between he and the Egyptian gods. For his attention to advert from one thing to another meant that it was something very big.

After Pit came back into the real world and reexamined his situation, yeah, this was a pretty big deal.

"But what about the humans?" worry shook Pit. There's no way they would survive like this.

"Don't worry, I've sent our entire fleet to help the humans, and Viridi is sending her Forces of Nature," her tone didn't change. "But right now I need you in the front lines. The sooner we solve what's wrong, the sooner everyone gets to go home safe and sound."

"I got it!" Pit assured. "Full-speed ahead, Lady Palutena!"

Pit activated a super-move. By charging energy through his weapons he could unleash either a concentrated single attack at a powerful foe or— like instances like this one— a large amount of single-shots at multiple foes. Pit did just that. He released the energy forward in the form of a single arrow. That bright blue beam split apart in a shotgun formation and from those smaller arrows split into even more arrows. The end result was every Underworld force in front of him was defeated.

His wings glowed brighter as speed was picked up. A second wave of monsters were blocking his path. "Take this!" Pit activated the super-move of his second weapon, the Viridi Palm. Flower petals and blots of energy (that always looked like hearts for some reason) exploded from his extended hand. A cyclone of red and pink struck everything in the same manor. He plowed his way through without slowing down.

"Yeah!" he cheered gleefully, "The fight is on!"

And after two minutes of fighting nonstop as well as having to use another super-move, Pit dove fearlessly into the black hole that he knew all too well. It still crept him out. The lightshow of eyes and rainbows sent a shiver throughout his spine. But he was relieved when he saw the key attached to his belt start to glow. Wait. He was RELIEVED? He was heading into the Underworld! That was worse than this creepy tunnel.

What he saw in the underworld shook him more than what he saw on the surface world. It was just too crazy! Gods of every color were fighting against ginormous monsters that Pit couldn't recognize. As far as his eyes could see were explosions, tumbling debris, and, duh, monsters. The Underworld forces were each as tall as mountains with either multiple heads and arms, claws, wings, or made of the elements like fire and water. From what Pit could see, it took two to five gods to defeat one at a time. The gods were just as out-powered as the humans were. What in Zeus' name was going on?

"Pit, watch out!" Palutena gasped.

"Wha—" Palutena flew him away before whatever it was attacked him. It was just a flash but Pit caught glimpses of some black ooze flying around. "What was that?"

"Here it comes again!"

Pit spun around and started to fly backwards entirely depending on Palutena to guide him. Coming after him looked like a living flood of black liquid. He heard it groan and soon could make out two glowing eyes and a mouth. It was closing in fast.

"What is that thing?" he cried out as he fired several arrows at the gunk. But it had no effect. He tried to blast charge shots of the Palm, but all it did was make little splashes. The flood monster kept charging at him.

"Nothing's working!"

"Don't panic," Palutena tried to keep him as calm as possible. "There's… uh… something we can do…"

"Really?" Pit's eyes sparkled. "What's that?"

"…" Palutena didn't answer. She didn't have anything.

"Lady Palutena…" Pit sobbed.

"GRAAAAAAHHHHH!" the flood of black ooze sped up. It opened its great mouth and leapt at Pit.

"Aaaaahhhh!" Pit screamed.

"Pit!" Palutena shrieked. There was nothing she could do.

Before the thing could close its mouth, arrows of light by the hundreds began to rain down from above. No, they were swords! And they kept coming! The monster howled in pain as the swords of divine energy tore it apart. Gunk flew everywhere. Pit was able to free himself and watched in amazement as more and more swords struck at the creature. The rain stopped when the liquid beast was splattered in every direction.

"B-Big sis?" Palutena nearly flinched by the sight.

A god flew down from above to float in front of Pit. Her eyes were as solid and cold as steel as they locked into Pit's. It only took a second for him to realize who it was that saved him. She was just as old looking as Lady Palutena, and just as beautiful. But there was a difference between the two. Whereas Palutena was warm and kind-spirited, this goddess was as cold and stiff as marble. Her green hair was short and didn't even touch her shoulders. She was decorated in light gold armor that was ten times more magnificent to look at than the armor of the Three Sacred Treasures. In her left hand was a spear as long as she was tall and in her right was a book.

It was none other than the original user of the Three Sacred Treasures, the Goddess of Strategic War and Law, Athena.

"Leave," her voice was forceful and demanded obedience. "This is no place for children. You have less than a minute of flight left."

"Sister," Palutena pleaded, "Father Zeus ordered us specifically to—"

"Father left me in charge," Athena countered. "I'll not tell you a second time."

"No," Pit stood his ground. Er, position. "You need all the help you can get and I—"

The cold glare of her eyes forced Pit to shut his mouth. Those eyes have seen countless battles, slain countless monsters, villains, and evil gods, and have seen hardships and cruelties that Pit could never be able to live through. Who was he to question the mighty Athena? He was an angel. She was a goddess. One of the Gods of War, at that.

"I don't need the help of an angel," she spat. "If you insist, then continue onward. Die by your ignorance, little boy. Our half-brother and that traitor went into Tarturus. That is where the problem lies. I shall slay these beasts and then deal with the core myself."

"T-Tarturus?" Palutena gasped, again.

"Half-brother?" Pit tilted his head to the side.

She flew away, off to face yet another titanic beast.

"Pit," Palutena urged, "we need to hurry. There's only a few seconds left of flight left!"

The young angel had noticed that his wings were starting to get hot. Really, really hot. Shoot, they were burning and it hurt so much! "Yikes! Hot! Hot! Hot! Let's go!"

Palutena guided him through the canyon at ridiculous speeds. They didn't have time to waste. All around them the battle was intensifying. Explosions were everywhere as giant rocks were falling from above. Pit had to maneuver himself from getting crushed. It was a difficult feat considering that he was in a great deal of pain. He probably had only ten seconds left. Palutena led him into a hole in the cavern. A dark hole. He couldn't see anything around him, not even where he was going.

"I'm sorry Pit," Palutena's voice was barely audible. "But I have to drop you or you'll burn."

"You have to WHAT?" Pit asked just as the burning sensation stopped. It didn't seem to change much. He was still heading straight down at the same amount of speed. Oh, no, he was falling. Which meant that eventually there was going to be an end to this fall. Which meant that there would be a big splat with Pit juice all over the floor.

"Lady Palutena!" he cried. But there was no answer.

Now he was beginning to panic. Especially when he's been falling longer than he was flying. At one thought, it was almost funny at how long the fall was. Seriously, why would there be such a deep hole? Was he going to the center of the world, or something? At a second thought, he was still going to hit something. Not even an angel could survive a fall like this.

Then again, most angels wouldn't have to. They could fly for crying out loud!

Suddenly he could see something in the distance. He had been falling long enough to get disoriented and couldn't which direction the objects were. Oh wait… duh! He was falling! So obviously they were down. At first all he saw were small dots much like sparkling stars. After another minute of falling they started to grow closer. They were moving around like fireflies. Then he could start to make shapes. They looked kinda human.

He heard a faint growl and then friction crawled up his back, pushing his tunic up. It felt like he was sliding on something extremely rough. Like it was made out of rocks or… or…

Something slapped him across the face. Something slimy. Well, whatever it was caused him to spin out of control until he crashed into something. He didn't know if it was the wall of the cave or the floor or some other obstacle. But after a few disorienting seconds he figured it was the floor at last! Sweet, sweet, holy and ever so sacred ground! Or… at least he thought it was until he found out it was the same slimy and rough texture as what it was that slapped him silly. Oh, and it moved.

It jerked, but then disappeared all of a sudden. Pit could make out the familiar glowing spectacle of Hearts as they split apart and gathered around two sources: the lights. The angel didn't know that he was falling again until he, finally, struck the ground. It caused him to groan. At least he didn't go splat.

The two lights approached the young angel. A third light appeared, hovering at the end of what looked like a wooden staff until it flew off and rested above Pit's head. With the third light, he could make out the silhouetted figures. The first was a really, really, really, really, REALLY huge man. He was, like, ten or twelve feet tall! And he looked so strong! A single bicep was just as big as Pit's torso! He wore a ragged black and brown tunic with leather bindings, shoulder pads, and boots. In his hand was a sword no human would be able to lift on their own, but this gigantic man could left it with one hand.

The other was just, and thank the gods!, a good foot taller than Pit. He was dressed in a hooded robe with chains and scrolls wrapped around him. Pit couldn't read, so he had no idea what they said. He had wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. In his right hand was a jagged and crooked wooden staff that was a little bit taller than him. His face was hardened, vengeful, and had seen a different kind of cruelty than Athena had. Despite that, he stood poised like a god.

"A seraphim?" the shorter one questioned. His voice was very terrified. His next tone showed disappointment, "No, just a common angel. How did an angel find their way into the deepest pit of hell?"

"Hm," grunted the giant, "he fell."

"Ugh," the other groaned and put his palm to his brow as if his head was in raging pain.

Pit jumped to his feet. "Hey! What's going on? Are you two at fault for the monsters?" He readied himself to fight them.

Instead he got his head smacked by the staff. "No!" said the holder. "We're here to stop it. Now what in the world are you doing here, boy?"

"Hmm," grunted the giant again.

"Oh," Pit rubbed his head, "so you two must be the 'half-brother and traitor', right?"

The blonde man crossed his arms and made another face of pain. His brows were twitching remarkably. "That woman…" He cleared his throat and announced, "I am the Elder God Prometheus."

"Alcaeus," greeted the giant.

"Elder God?" Pit tilted his head to the side. In what way was this guy old? He looked— in a hypothetical theory that they were all humans, Prometheus looked three or four years older than Pit. Now as for Alcaeus, the guy looked like in his early thirties, even if he was a giant of a man.

Pit got another smack on the head for gawking.

"Ow!" Prometheus motioned to smack him again. "I mean— I am captain of Lady Palutena's guard, the angel Pit."

Prometheus' brow arced. "Pit, the supposed angel that defeated Hades?"

Pit clicked his heels and saluted, "Sir!"

He got another smack. This time it felt like Prometheus put some effort into the strike. "Oh so YOU'RE why we're down here." He groaned and rubbed his temple. "What a mess you made. Are you willing to clean it up at least?"

Pit was ready to cry. There were at least three layers of bumps on his head now. "Yes, yes! Just please stop hitting me…"

"Good!" the robed god seemed relieved by that. He reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a glass ball that held a flame of blues, greens, and purples. It reminded Pit of Hade's outrageous hair. "Take this, head towards that direction—" he pointed 7'oclock, "—and when you reach a giant pool of… something… Overlord of the Universe knows what… just throw it in there. It'll get rid of the pests above ground and on the surface."

Pit held the glass orb firmly. It gave off a presence that didn't feel right. But if it really would fix everything what did he care? "But, what are you two gonna do?"

Prometheus' face grew dark. A small part of his expression also showed fear; a deeper fear than when he thought Pit was a seraphim. Whatever a seraphim was. "We're to make sure this prison can still hold. Especially in the core. Now go! You've wasted enough time. Make haste!"

Pit was more afraid of getting hit again by that stick than failing the mission. He took off sprinting at full force in the direction Prometheus told him to go. He was to run until he saw some pool with unknown contents into it. He had been running for so long now. It was by the fifth time he had to stop and catch his breath that he was beginning to lose hope. And the contents of the orb were eating away at his hope. He knew it was, but he didn't know that it was also implanting him with doubt. He was losing faith in himself. He even feared that he didn't make it in time. How many humans died because of him? How many gods perished?

He stumbled. The orb fell out of his hands. "No!" he shrieked and tried to grab it before it rolled into something that he couldn't see. Some hole or tunnel.

And it did fall into something. He didn't know what. All he saw, even with the faint light above his head, was the orb sink and disappear. But there was a sound of a small splash as it sank.

The ground trembled. A large hand twice the size of his body shot out. It seemed to glow a neon violet essence. The hand extended up into the air, clenched into a fist, and shook as power was being drawn in streams through the air from every direction. Bright red glowing energy crawled down the arm like veins. Immediately something surfaced from below ground with enough speed and force to cause the ground to crumble apart. What Pit saw surface shook his world.

"Pitty Pat?" the lord of the Underworld questioned. "What are you doing here?"

"Hades?" No. No. No, no, no, no, no! This couldn't be happening.

The mountain-tall High God yawned and stretched, "My word, that was quite the nap. How long have I been out? Did Nintendo tell the tale of our battle through a hand-held game yet?"

"S-Six months," Pit stuttered.

"Only six months?" Hades laughed, "Oh Zeusy, you couldn't have missed your big brother that much already, could you?" His interest turned to something else, "What's this? A jail-break?"

Before Pit could react, Hades scooped the small one in his grip and stuffed him inside his breast pocket. "Hang on, boy! No one breaks out of MY prison!" He bent his knees and jumped.

The G-force caused Pit to be pressed all the way to the bottom of the pocket. It also felt like a thousand pounds was pushing down on him. He couldn't move or breathe. There was a crashing noise and all of a sudden that pressure was removed. Pit found himself being thrust out of the pocket and high into the open air— the open air of the Underworld.

"Attention all maggots," Hades roared in rage as the upper half of his body was the only thing that broke through. "Warden Hades is back and He. Is. NOT. Happy!"

Hades leapt out of the hole he created. All the gods, which had been as horror-struck as the monsters, scattered like ants. No one got in the way of one of the three High Gods when they were mad. The Lord of the Underworld struck a monster made of ice first. His fist collided with the head, shattering it, and the impact of his landing created a shockwave that knocked down the beasts that were nearby. And blow Pit around as he was still falling from such a huge height.

Hades didn't stop there. He punched, he kicked, he sliced with his claws, and he snapped some in two like twigs. He fired powerful blasts of red and purple energy from his hands that created enormous explosions that surpassed any of the gods' attempts of assault. He body slammed monsters as they tried to flee, suplexing the few that dared to challenge him. None stood a chance against his wrath. At least a few were smart enough to flee into the canyon and back into their prison.

However, for Pit, it didn't matter. One monster in particular was about to eat Pit as he was still falling. And it was a monster Pit could do nothing about: the black blob. "Oh come on!"

And just like that, the black thing gobbled him up.

"Oh no you don't!" Hades roared and shoved his hand into the creature's body. He ripped Pit out of its stomach. "Pit is mine to destroy!"

There was a flash of red coming from Hades' eyes. Immediately, a roaring flame ignited the blob. It screamed in pain but quickly dissolved into nothing. That was the last monster to take care of.

There was cheering. Triumphant cheers and praise came from the gods.

Hades joined in to his own cheers. "Yeah!" he leapt into the air with his fist (the one that held Pit) up into the air. "Touchdown!"

There was silence after Hades slammed Pit onto the ground, creating quite the deep crater for the angel. "Why Pitty Pat, how did I forget about you?"

Pit didn't hear it. He was out cold.


	2. Mission Two start!

As Pit was munching on his healthy serving of friendly Angel-O's (part of a nutritious breakfast), Lady Palutena sat in front of him and explained what had happened yesterday after he was knocked out. He didn't understand much of it, but could make a decent sense of things to make out the general idea. Since Pit had defeated Hades six months ago, the Underworld was without a ruler. Without a ruler meant there was no one to keep it under order. And without that order, the world's greatest prison that held the worst criminals in history, known as Tarturus, was unbound. The inmates, known as Titanites, were kept at bay for six months because Hades had kept them terrified of his wrath if they tried anything. It took them that long to figure out that their warden was gone and they were free.

Six months ago, as soon as Hades was defeated, Zeus sent one of his mortal sons, Alcaeus, to free Prometheus from a prison built by Zeus himself. It turned out that Prometheus was the 'traitor' Athena had spoken about before, something called a Titan. Pit didn't know what he had done, nor what a Titan was and didn't question it. Regardless, it was Zeus' plan for Prometheus to go into the core of Tarturus and be the new ruler of the Underworld. Palutena only knew about this part because Athena had gone into a rage. Prometheus had tricked everyone. He had planned on resurrecting Hades all along but instead got Pit to do that part for him. Zeus had yet to say anything about the situation, thus Prometheus received no punishment. Most likely because the Underworld had a ruler once more and everything was back in order.

Oh. And as for the normal Underworld monsters and Reapers running amok in the human realm, they were actually running away from the Titanites. As soon as they sensed their master's return, they left the human world. The humans only retaliated because they were scared, thus scaring the monsters and made them think that Pit was going to attack them too, which was why they decided to strike first. It sort of made sense now. Kinda. It made his head hurt, really.

Regardless, with Hades' return, he knew what was going to happen. He was ready. And in three hours after his breakfast, he was running down that familiar dark tunnel leading to the human realm. On both his hands were the large thorn-based Viridi Claws and hovering over his shoulders were the mechanical angel droids, the Centurion Orbitars. Just another pair of weapons he had (almost) mastered together.

"It's time to fly!" he cheered and leapt out into the light-filled world. The golden glow of his wings caught onto the wind. He soared over the clouds, ready to face battle.

And just like that, the several one-eyed monsters of the Underworld were upon him. He never had to use his claws for this. He had upgraded the Centurion Orbitars so much that they did more than enough damage to vaporize them. Maybe he'll have enough hearts by the end of the day to buy a new Wii system!

"I've already contacted Lord Dynthos," said Palutena through her telepathic communication. "He's already working on a new Sacred Treasure. He also said he'd be making one for Pittoo," she added with a slight giggle that no one was supposed to hear.

Ah, Pittoo. Also known as Dark Pit. He and Pit were always going at it against another. During the six months without Hades, Dark Pit would sometimes appear out of nowhere to either spar with Pit for no apparent reason at all or to try and take his glory by defeating the monster-of-the-day. Pit got along with him and was starting to like his rebellious side, but Dark Pit would rather die than admit anything to his alter-ego. It was even kinda funny how the other gods, especially God of Forge Dynthos, was recognizing their companionship.

"That's great!" Pit smiled at that. He could, somewhat, imagine the two of them in super-mecha-armor facing off against Hades. Maybe that's why Dynthos was making two sets of armor? Because Hades had destroyed the original in their fight? Pit sighed; not only because of that, but because he really hoped he wouldn't have to go through those Trials again.

"What's this now?" the familiar eerie voice echoed in his head. "Planning on having my show canceled before it even gets to air?"

A mirage of Hades was displayed in the sky. He looked down at Pit with that same suave smile the told the angel that the ruler of the Underworld thought very little of him.

"Hades!" Pit unleashed a super-move to finish off the last of the one-eyed pests.

"Pit!" Lord Hades roared back.

"Hades!"

"Pit!"

"HADES!"

"PIT!"

Unknown to the both of them, Palutena rolled her eyes.

"I thought you learned the first time, Hades!" Pit began with his heroic speech. "But again you attack the innocent for your own greedy purposes! Did you forget who it was that defeated you the first time? When the Great Sacred Treasure is finished, I'm coming after you! Be prepared to face to light!"

"Ooo," Hades feinted a shrill of terror. He chuckled afterwards, "Big bad Pitty Pat thinks he can leap into the lion's den because he has claws now. Well, _little sheep_, why don't you go back to doing what little angels do best? Go back to playing the hero, fighting monsters and singing your little ballads." He waved his hand around dismissively.

"Maybe I will!" argued Pit.

"Here I come to save the day!" sang Pit. The air started to rumble, but he thought it was the wind going against him and ignored it. As he flew through the sky, blasting more monsters away as he approached his destination, he continued his chant. "Soaring through the sky to keep the baddies at bay!"

The wind started to pick up. It was almost alive and was growing agitated.

Pit ignored this again and went on, "I am the hero of light, and I'll battle with all my mi—"

The sky turned red.

"Oh snap," said Hades. "Shouldn't have done that."

"Pit watch out!" shouted Palutena.

"Wha—"

Giant balls of fire started to rain down from the red sky. "WHOA!" Pit was being tugged around by Palutena in every direction as the rain of fire continued to strike down. He was frightened. "WHAT IS GOING ON?" Each ball of fire was twice his size and flew down three times as fast as he could fly. Palutena had to exhaust her All Seeing Eye to tell from what direction each strike was coming from and maneuver Pit out of the way. But each movement was just an instant away from death. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!"

And as fast as they came, the fires died out before they would reach the surface. The assault had stopped.

"WHO WAS SINGING?" cried a voice that shook the heavens in tremendous rage. To the right of Pit, appearing several yards away, was the Elder God Prometheus. He floated in the air; his staff was glowing a bright red that was starting to dim.

"Prometheus?" cried both Palutena and Pit. Pit was the one to question, "What are you doing here?"

The Elder God stared at Pit. His brow started to twitch. "Ugh, of course it would be you," he said as he waved his staff in a swift motion.

Suddenly Pit felt something smack the top of his head.

With that, Prometheus flew off due north.

"Pit!" Palutena realized what was going on, "Follow him! He's headed towards the same direction as we are."

He never understood why she would tell him to 'watch out' or 'go there' since she was the one controlling his flight path. It's not like he had a choice. In that instant, his wings grew brighter and he flew off the chase after Prometheus. "What's going on?"

"Didn't you know?" Hades snickered in Pit's head, "Prom King works for me now!"

"No way!" Pit couldn't believe it.

"But why?" Palutena asked in a tone between demanding and pleading.

"Employment under the Underworld is an emotionally depressing environment," Prometheus began his explanation. He clicked his heels together; his flight speed increased. "Screams of agony at every corner, monsters always surrounding you, violence in every pavilion, and the pleasure of company, food, and entertainment is strictly forbidden unless you want to be cursed. However, it is still a tolerable one. The job might ask for much, but at the end of the day I get to sleep with a rewarded feeling and a smile."

Prometheus gave a hand signal. All monsters that were coming out of the clouds to attack Pit spread out. But they never charged. The two beings flew past them with their speeds increasing. The Elder God casually glided to and fro, whereas Pit was giving a good chase. The older one waved his staff; six spheres of blue light appeared around him. They began to move in synchronization, revolving around him and then firing off towards Pit without their formation breaking. The angel easily dodged by flying into the center of the formation, where a gaping hole acted more like a target for him to go through.

"Is it because of Zeus?" Palutena asked. "But he was the one to free you—"

"He was the one to imprison me," Prometheus spat with much bitterness. He created three more formations with a total of thirty-six spheres. Again they fired off at Pit but one at a time, each one traveling faster than the previous. Again the angel dodged with good reflexes. The Elder God got rid of the formations and instead fired off homing shots behind him. At first it was one at a time, but as Pit was still dodging with little difficulty, Prometheus increased the level by firing two and three at a time. He threw in five spheres at once to throw him off, but again Pit dodged.

"Maybe because Hades brainwashed him!" Pit declared, not minding much about the obstacle course in front of him.

"Not at all," Hades chuckled. "It's because of the benefits."

Palutena gasped, "You mean immortality?"

"Uh," Prometheus spun around for Pit to have a good look at him; he flew backwards without hindering his speed. "Free soda!"

"And my word does this kid drink!" Hades declared, almost in a groan. "I haven't seen anyone taken a liking to soda since my old man. Must be a Titan-thing."

"…" Prometheus said nothing in regards to the 'kid' comment. Instead he tested Pit's abilities once more by generating ten spheres and firing them off at once. This time, they spread out in a shotgun formation.

Pit tilted to the side while flapping his wings quickly. Doing so caused him to swerve around the spheres in a spiral direction. He had seen the opening and didn't hesitate to take it. But he was getting annoyed now. If he had a Staff instead of Claws or Orbitars he could have hit Prometheus by now. No matter how hard he tried to get closer, Prometheus kept the same distance. He increased his speed and seemed to decline a small bit when Pit slowed down to dodge.

Suddenly Prometheus took a dive into the clouds. Pit followed without hesitation. Even in the mist of the clouds the Elder God didn't stop his bombardment of attacks. This time he left a large trail of spheres behind him. This was the real obstacle course. With very little sight available to him, Pit had to judge the terrain with mostly instinct. By the speed he was traveling, he would only have one lonesome second to spot them out before he would crash into one. He moved about swiftly, but there were too many for him to find holes in the path with just a second. When he hit a sphere, he felt a slight burning sensation. But, it left no marks and it was something of equivalent damage to someone pinching him. Still hurt though.

"I think I've delayed you long enough," the voice of Prometheus echoed in the clouds.

A second later, Pit broke free from the clouds and gazed upon a mass of open land covered in tall grass. The only notable landmark was a tall, thin castle that looked ruined. It was a crude-looking construction with a fat base and a single tower. Inside the walls of the castle held a decent number of cottages that once held a small town, only to be crippled from lack of population.

"What do you mean by that?" questioned Pit. "Running away already?"

"I've been analyzing your power of flight," Prometheus floated with the same distance he had kept against Pit. "It's not your power directly so there is a great limit and the foreign substance that fuels that power is putting stress on your body as it is trying to resist it. Regardless if it is a 'miracle', I suspect you can't hold it any longer than, what, five minutes?"

"…!" Pit paled.

"How did…" Palutena thought out loud.

"My attacks weren't meant to harm or stun, but to increase the burden on your body," Prometheus said as he waved his staff around. Pit was relieved when no light spheres appeared. "If I wanted to win I could have struck you with everything I had, made my tactics nearly impossible to dodge and thus let you fall, or just distract you enough for the time-limit to be exceeded. I chose the latter. You have twenty seconds by the time I say my final word. Make haste to the castle entrance. I shall await you in the throne."

He flew off towards the center of the castle.

Pit ground his teeth in irritation. Twenty seconds was just long enough for him to make it to the front gate! What irritated him even more was that after Prometheus had flown over the walls, a horde of Underworld monsters appeared from the clouds and took positions inside along with him! This was like another dungeon level!

Agreeing to Palutena's suggestion to land, Pit followed cue and readied himself for a long battle.

Meanwhile, Prometheus stood at the center of the throne room that once was. The marble tiles on the floor were mostly shattered and the exquisite rugs had been tarnished and their color faded from the elements. The once beautiful stained windows were shattered, thick roots of bushes were crawling over the sills. He didn't ponder about what had happened to the castle, mostly because he could figure it out on his own. There was no siege— any invader would have taken their spoils of war such as the gold plated throne chair or elegant carpet. Based upon the land that surrounded the fortress, there was a lack of resources and the people were forced to move on. But also based upon the condition of neglect, they had been gone for a few hundred years; possibly, they never discovered adequate skills in harvesting.

He could have analyzed further and even reenact the whole scenario in his head, but his mind was elsewhere. With his head bowed and eyes closed, Prometheus focused on the status of Pit's heroic charge. The boy was going through the path the Elder God had set up by knocking down a few pillars, blasting open craters, and crumbling housing to block certain streets. Pit fought fiercely against the large variety of monsters he had picked as well. The angel made obnoxious comments that could still be passed on as innocence, followed by either a comment or friendly tease by Palutena and a sarcastic insult from Hades. But Prometheus wasn't paying attention to any of that.

He was instead studying Pit. He watched in his mind at how Pit fought. How he moved, how he adjusted according to the formations Prometheus had organized the monsters in, how he would solve each problem with the small limit of his abilities, and how he recovered when getting struck. Naturally, a brow was raised when the boy picked up a random hamburger off the floor and ate it. He seemed to have regained some strength and ventured forth.

Prometheus was evaluating the boy's potential. He had heard the tale of how Pit had faced against all odds and still managed to defeat the High God Hades. Even Zeus would have much difficulty against the ruler of the Underworld, but there was no doubt that the youngest of the Triad would win. Zeus had defeated his father Kronus, a being by far in power compared to Zeus. But now, he could somewhat see how Pit could have toppled the eldest High God. He simply didn't give up. Pit would continuously push himself to go faster, stronger, fiercer; while at the same time he would learn from his mistake and correct them almost instantaneously.

The Elder God lifted his head and opened his eyes. Pit kicked open the throne room door wide open; a respectable feat since the door was twice the size as the giant Alcaeus. "Prepare yourself, Prometheus!" Pit waved the Viridi Claws in a classic hero way. "I am Pit, servant to the Goddess of Light, Palutena. Where there is evil, I will be there to defeat it. The dark of the Underworld will be forced to face the light!"

Again, Pit was smacked by an invisible force at the head when the blonde god waved his staff swiftly.

"He's got quite the reach," mentioned Palutena.

"Fool," Prometheus stood up straight, making sure that everyone noticed the rattling of his chains as he did so. "Do you even know what 'light' is?"

Pit massaged his head. "Of course! It's warmth like the sun, and pure, and joyful, and—"

"That's enough," Prometheus cut him off as ten light spheres appeared around him. "You are a good warrior, Pit. But you lack wisdom in politics and conviction to think freely without orders. You probably don't even know why you're here."

Pit was silent. He didn't know. "Because… You're doing something evil?" He saw that look on the Elder God's face. "Please don't hit me!"

Prometheus lowered his staff and shook his head in disappointment. "Very well then. According to the Aries Great Big Book of Villainy, I am to engage you in combat while I explain my 'devious plan of treachery'. Shall we, angel?"

"Uh… sure?" Pit scratched his head in confusion. "I guess?"

Prometheus didn't hesitate to unleash his assault. All ten spheres came at Pit at a speed that caught the angel completely off guard. He was knocked off his feet by the sheer force of the impact. They weren't designed to wound him, only to interfere with any assistance Palutena could give him. But they still hurt!

Pit stood back up just in time to see a second wave of ten coming at him. He dove to the side and rolled back onto his feet, only to have a third wave on its way. Prometheus had held back before; these attacks were a lot faster than when they were in the air! As Pit dodged and practically danced his way around the battlefield, Prometheus kept his sharp eyes locked on the angel. He continued to study the boy.

"I should tell you," Prometheus sighed once more in disappointment, "my attacks can be deflected."

"Really?" Pit asked with excitement.

Instead of answering, Prometheus just sent his next wave. The young angel dodged half of them and fired a charge shot that enveloped the rest from his Viridi Claws. Pit took the chance to take a few steps forward and brace himself for the next wave, which came. He unleashed a charge shot from the Centurion Orbitars and a continuous fire from his Claws. As that wave was depleted and the next one was still forming, Pit charged forward.

Only to get knocked back by five extra spheres. He was prepared to take out ten more of those annoying attacks, but Prometheus had created five more light spheres and had spread them out instead of firing them in a concentrated fire like before. Pit knew what would happen if he was immobile for too long and jumped back onto his feet and dove before the next attack crashed down on the floor where he had previously fallen. He had to keep moving. It only took half a second for one wave to form and another half-second for them to be fired. It meant Pit had one second to avoid getting hit and find a way to draw closer to Prometheus. The Elder God kept out of Pit's firing range.

Prometheus started to monologue, "Light isn't as _pure_ as you think it is, boy. In the past it was the most beautiful thing any of the gods had ever seen." His words and lack of focus of the battle didn't hinder the generation and firing of his attacks. When Pit had gotten five feet closer, five more blasts came from a wide range and knocked him back.

"People will always fear what they don't know," he continued as Pit struggled. "Light was created to ease this burden. Because of light, people _know_ what it is they should be afraid of. It is not the light's fault. It was the fault of the one who brought it into existence."

"Wouldn't that be you, Prometheus?" questioned Palutena.

He laughed in response. "While man was nothing but mindless drones, I brought them intelligence and free-will. I taught them to build, to harvest food, to play music, and I taught them from the most basic of schoolwork to the advanced thoughts that could make a man's head explode. I was not the one who brought them the light. The world was still dark when I ruled."

"Haaaa!" Pit charged forward. He slashed at the set of ten, charge-shot the next set, and charge-shot another set of ten while slashing at the five that would come against his sides. He triumphed and was almost in firing range of Prometheus. The regular concentrated set of ten came along with the surrounding set of five that he hated. But added into the fray was a set of three that howled through the air from behind Prometheus. They arced over his shoulders and head, curved just before they would hit the ground, and crashed perfectly onto Pit's torso. He was sent flipping through the air, which forced him to take a set of fifteen spheres in mid-air and be pushed back even further.

Prometheus paid him no mind, "Tell me, Minor Goddess, what are your duties as the Guardian of Light?"

Palutena answered in a serious tone as to convince Prometheus something, "I am to keep the celestial balance from falling out of control and to protect the innocent wherever they may be."

"How naïve," Prometheus said with sadness. "To protect? You people take pride in that? In order to protect someone means they have to be in danger in the first place. But there is a flaw in your job requirement that make you a meddlesome girl."

"And what's that?" Palutena had some edge in her voice for being looked at like a little girl.

"Thanks to Zeus, no one is innocent."

"ARGH!" Once again Pit had reached the next level, only to fall for the fourth and final trap. If, and he had done so, Pit were to reach the edge in which a single step would allow him to shoot Prometheus, the Elder God would fire a continuous chain of spheres from every frontal direction facing Pit. They would strike him down in a fashion that forced him to dodge in the only manner that would ensure his safety: back. The strikes were still not lethal, but Pit's fear of getting hurt forced his body to react and flee from the onslaught.

Lady Palutena was silent. That silence was acknowledgement for what Prometheus had said. She knew all too well what Zeus had done before she was born. She had heard the stories. "That still doesn't justify your means to join Hades. Don't you realize his goal is to wipe out the human race to fill his hunger for power?"

"Poseidon nearly did so during the Great Flood," countered Prometheus. "I'm sure you know the rest of the story there. Atlantis was sunk and I was locked away for my crime. Anyways, yes, I am fully aware of his plans. The reason behind them mean nothing to me. I only care about making sure it happens."

"What!" both Palutena and Pit were horrified. That moment of pause caused Pit to get knocked around once more.

"The world was beautiful!" Prometheus was growing annoyed. "The world was perfect! There was no war, no hunger, no covet of possessions, and no sickness. The world today is sick. But there is no cure. I have no choice but to destroy it before the natural world is ruined beyond repair!"

"Prometheus…" Palutena's voice turned into pity. "What have you become…"

"That's why?" Pit was outraged. His pants became grunts as he fought and argued against the Elder God. "That's why you joined Hades? Because you think that the world can't be saved you'd rather have it destroyed? If the humans are as you say, then you're not better than they are!"

"So I would be," Prometheus crossed his arms. His tone was cold. "There was no celestial balance in my time. The concept of good and evil never crossed anyone's mind. What do I care if you think I'm evil? You, who had been bathed in light since birth, who believes anything that isn't light is evil? A child like you could never understand the beauty of a perfect world."

"You're wrong!" Pit roared at the top of his voice and charged in at full-force. He slid on the ground to dodge the first layer of spheres. At the set of fifteen he blew away most of them while slashing away the rest. At the third layer he repeated his actions, instead taking to the air at the last second to dodge the set of three that always curved upwards before hitting the ground. And now he had to deal with the fifty that would rain down on him at once. "Take this!"

Pit, who had trained night and day for the past six months, had unleashed an attack he had worked to the extreme to learn to use. It was a ground-based Super Attack. Razor sharp flower petals and spikes of thorns fired off to his sides in a massive cyclone that deflected fifteen spheres individually. And like the Bow he had used yesterday, the Centurion Orbitars fired powerful arrows that split into smaller arrows at a large rate that overpowered the remaining twenty spheres directly in front of him. There were more than enough arrows to even reach Prometheus, who had to put his arms over his face to protect himself.

Pit went in as soon as his move had finished. As fast as he could, he charged at Prometheus. Perhaps since the Elder God had flinched he couldn't generate any spheres, so none appeared to knock Pit out of the way. The angel made his move. In a lightning fast swing, Pit struck both Claws at Prometheus' torso. Because he was a god they wouldn't be able to pierce his skin, but the force was more than enough to knock the wind out of him.

"Yeah!" Pit cheered in triumph. "Who's perfect now, _Prom Queen_?"

"**You filthy, insolent little brat!"** Prometheus' voice changed into one that struck Pit with fear that he had NEVER known before. "**How dare you touch me!**"

Pit didn't know what happened after that. There was just pain from his torso to his chin as something worse than fire struck him. And there was wind blowing against his back. Why was there—

Pit crashed through the ceiling and continued to rise up. The impact that forced him skyward had knocked him senseless. He didn't know what was going on or in what direction he was heading. All he knew was that he was in terrible pain as something red was glowing on his chest. It would be until much later that he would figure out the source of pain was the red energy latched onto his skin.

"Pit!" Palutena screamed just as he was reaching the peak of his ascension. He had flown up too high from Prometheus' sudden attack. He was going to die from the impact if he hit the ground. She had to eject him out of there. But when she tried, with her light enveloping him, she couldn't touch him! She could only think that being hit by the Elder God's blue sphered strikes too many times was causing divine interference. There was nothing she could do.

"It's a pop-fly out in center field!" the voice of Hades announced. "It's going, it's going…" Dark shadows started to envelop around Pit instead of the light. "It's caught by Hades! Lord of the Underworld!"

Pit vanished. He was sent to the Skyworld via Hades Mail.

"Hades!" Palutena gasped. "W-Why did you—"

"Don't get the wrong idea, Pretty Palutena," Hades jested. "I'll not have Prom King be the one to finish Pit. That belongs to yours truly."

"Thank you, Hades," she said sincerely. There was silence. Palutena had cut the communication link to see to Pit's wounds.

"Y'know," Hades puffed, "you're not very good at this villainy thing. You didn't even elaborate your big secret plan of the day to them!"

Prometheus on the other hand was paying very little attention to the High God. His attention was locked onto the mark on his chest. Now he saw why Pit was worthy of such praise. The boy, as Prometheus had acknowledged earlier, would not give up. He would push himself beyond his limits only to come out twice as strong as he was before. If he were a human, his fighting style would have killed him long ago. But as an angel, he would grow into a formidable foe. And once his wings matured and he could fly on his own, he could easily rank into Archangel. If this were to continue on, he will, one day, even reach the peak of angel ranks: the Seraph.

Prometheus closed his eyes and thought. He had to reevaluate everything from scratch. He believed his only threats were the Triad, the three High Gods that had imprisoned him. Athena, and even that brute of a brother of hers, Aries, would only appear as an obstacle that he would have much difficulty crossing. But, he knew he could defeat them, even if they— if the Overlord of the Universe rewove the fabric of the universe at that!— fought together. Any other god was just a bump on the road.

But all of them were at the peak of their power. That's where Pit came in. Pit had fought with everything he had against Prometheus, even if it were just to test the boy's abilities. He had caught the Elder God by surprise and landed a hit. A hit that left a bruise, at that. And every day the boy will grow stronger. He could already defeat the Minor Gods in combat, and matched the Mid Gods on equal par. Athena and Aries would most likely struggle with him. This couldn't go on.

Pit was now a threat.


End file.
